We can kinda fold this one into "IT'S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT." It's one of the new NBC sitcoms and it revolves around the life and times of one Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I don't know who asked for Young Rock. It's probably the same people who asked for Young Sheldon (Thursdays on CBS!), but nonetheless, it's here and I thought I'd give it a look. And hey, it's not too bad.
The premise is that it tells Dwayne's story in the way you'd expect from old shows like Everybody Hates Chris. The big difference is, it bounces around various points in Dwayne's life. One week, you'll see a story from his high school days, then go to his childhood, then bounce back to his college days. It becomes a little hard to maintain a cohesive narrative track that way, but from the looks of it, they seem more interested injust telling "one and done" stories.
The constants appear to be Dwayne's parents, specifically his dad, Rocky Johnson. Depending on the time period, Rocky's either winding down on his WWE career or struggling to cope with being a washed-up has-been working flea markets. Contrary to the impression that the last five years or so might give off, working the indies is not a fun time, because it pays roughly jack. The story of Rocky accepting this new curveball in life while trying to raise a kid and keep his wife happy at home is an interesting one and should be a fun one to explore... assuming they manage to stick with it for two weeks in a row.
As for the focus on Dwayne himself, the college Dwayne is proving to be the most compelling era. This is the focus on Dwayne at the University of Miami where he battles injury. More than that, he battles the depression that comes from that injury and suddenly not having that motivation to keep going. I don't know if the show was particularly effective in dealing with the topic of mental health, but I could at least appreciate that they even tried to broach the subject at all without turning it into a joke.
As a comedy, Young Rock is competent, but it's far from the funniest thing on TV. If you're watching it, you're going to be in it more for the looks back at the golden age of pro wrestling and the fun portrayals of old-school wrestlers. As a life story, it has the potential to be fascinating, but this "Memento" style of bouncing back and forth between eras is going to get jarring.
Your mileage will vary on Young Rock, but give it a try on Hulu or Peacock. The one downside is its driving narrative device where it's mainly future Rock telling his life story... on the presidential campaign trail. The cynical out there might see the entire purpose of this show as Dwayne measuring an actual POTUS run, but I don't think we have too much to worry about there.
As soon as this Jungle Cruise movie hits, nobody's voting for him for anything.
